Why choose whole grain products?

The main difference between wholemeal flour (and the products made using it) and white premium flour is:

• Wholemeal flour is milled from whole grains.

But.

• In white premium flour, only the kernels of the grains are milled.

Refined grains lack bran and germ, i.e. they have lost most of their fibre and nutrients. Although white premium flour may be enriched with some vitamins, minerals and sometimes fibre, not all the nutrients in the grain can be replaced.

Why choose whole grain products?

First – whole-grain products contain mostly complex or “slow” carbohydrates. They process more slowly – giving us energy gradually and therefore lasting longer. This means that satiety lasts longer and, because we get energy gradually, we can use it up. And if there are no extra calories in the body – the body has nothing to turn into fat.

Plus.

A recent study shows that women who consumed whole-grain foods had a 30 per cent reduced risk of heart attack. In addition, fibre helps prevent the development of rectal cancer, and whole-grain products help control blood sugar levels and prevent type 2 diabetes.

When buying bread, breakfast cereals and pasta, it is important to read the ingredients on the packaging. When buying wheat products, make sure they are wholemeal. Oats are always wholemeal, whether they are sold as traditional oatmeal, quick-cooking, finely or coarsely ground.

But oat flour bread is a different matter. The main ingredient in oat bread is usually fine wheat flour, but the amount of oats in this flour is so small that it is insufficient to absorb the required amount of bran and fibre.

Brown and wild rice are also wholemeal products, while white rice is refined. Do not be fooled by words such as enriched, unbleached, bromated, stone-milled, pelleted, 100 % wheat, rye, multigrain, seven-grain, semolina or organic.

Such products may contain little or no whole grain. To check whether a product contains whole grains, read the ingredients on the packaging. If the first ingredient listed is wholemeal flour, oats, brown rice or wholemeal rye flour, then this is what you need.

To diversify your diet, include barley – a rich source of antioxidants and fibre for lowering cholesterol. One cup of cooked barley contains 5.9 grams of fibre. And bulgur – the steamed, dried and crushed kernels of wheat grains – contains vitamin E and other antioxidants. Bulgur also has a low glycaemic index, which means it helps maintain stable blood sugar levels and it contains twice as much fibre as the same amount of oat flour.

Wholegrain wheat couscous and pasta contain three to three and a half times more fibre than the same products made with white premium flour.

Brown rice contains ten times more fibre than white rice and is rich in complex carbohydrates and vitamin B.

Quinoa, which tastes like nuts, is high in protein and lysine (an amino acid that helps the body’s tissues grow and regenerate). With so many valuable nutrients, it is often called the superfood of the future.

Eat tasty, eat balanced, move and – be healthy!